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Ballet of Kiev?


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On Dec 21, the Ballet de Kiev will be performing "Don Quixote" (I don't know which version) in Asnières, near Paris. I only saw "Don Quixote" once, many years ago, and it is one of my worst ballet memories: the company (Grand ballet classique de Moscou, I think) wasn't bad, but it took place in a hall near Grenoble which usually hosts rock concerts and is totally unsuited to ballet, the acoustic and sight were awful, and Minkus' music, which is not exactly my cup of tea, was on a tape of poor quality (and there were no program notes to explain that silly story).

So could anybody tell me if the Ballet de Kiev is an interesting enough company to take the risk of seeing "Don Quixote" again?

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Estelle, though I haven't seen this company, I feel it would certainly be worth going to see. Dancers such as Galina Samsova and Nina Semizorova (among others) began their careers with the Kiev Company and more recently Ivan Putrov and Alina Cojocaru of the Royal Ballet are from Kiev too. If they are examples of the standard in that company then they are well worth seeing.

Don Q. isn't my favourite ballet either, but with the right cast and production, I must admit it can be great fun.

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I saw this company in 1995 when I chaperoned a group of students on a trip to Russia and Ukraine. They did a very fine production of Romeo and Juliet. Now, I am not a trained dancer and I have learned a great deal more about ballet since I saw that performance, but I recently viewed a videotape that one of my companions made while we were at the performance. It looked to me as I remembered it, a very professional, practiced performance by experienced dancers.

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Estelle,I saw the Ballet of Kiev,also called the Ukrainian National Ballet,in Spain.They did the Sleeping Beauty.The dancing was rather good,although,like many European companies,they emphasize high extensions to the point of it geting monotonous.The company is rather small and they performed in a venue unsuited to a classical ballet that requires such stage designs as the Sleeping Beauty.They performed to taped music but it sounded alright.

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